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Dr. Loretta, Veterinarian

Category: Large Animal Veterinary

Satisfied Customers: 28298

Experience: 25 years of experience in treating large animals of all kinds.

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My goat is sick. It has been in an avocado orchard with plums,

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My goat is sick. It has been in an avocado orchard with plums, cherries, olives and apricots. We have 2 goats and only the girl is sick. She is very lethargic and isnt moving around at all. We have managed to give her some water but she isnt eating at all. We took her temperature and it was 39.4.

Good Morning and welcome to Just answer. I am Dr. Loretta, a licensed veterinarian and I am happy to answer your question.

I am so sorry to hear about Jenna. It is unlikely that this is being caused by the plants and fruits that she may be ingesting but the high amount of sugar could be causing her these problems. Her temperature is normal but this still could be a form of infection such as an acute upper respiratory infection common this time of year. This will not show any obvious respiratory signs because it is acute but make Jenna feel very bad. For now, the best thing to do id to give her Penicillin G daily. This can be purchased at the farm supply and the dose is on the bottle by weight. Then give her an electrolyte solution every 4 hrs by dosing with a dose syringe or turkey baster to keep her from becoming dehydrated. I would also recommend giving her mineral oil, 1 pint per 100 pounds every 4-6 hrs just in case this is the beginnings of a bloat.

Watch her for urinations and defecations and if this does not bring her around, you will have to have your vet examine Jenna to see if we have missed something.

Hi again.. I failed to mention that we live in Australia, so we cant just go to our farm shop and buy Penicillin (wish we could) also every where we are reading it is telling us that avocados, cherries and plums are all deadly to goats. They both were out in the orchard maybe she ate some of the avocado leaves. If she did could this be causing her to be ill? She has been the same for 2 nights now and going into her 3rd day she is eating very little but is drinking water and water with electrolytes .

Hi Denise...sorry, I did not know that you could not purchase Penicillin over the counter.

It is really unlikely that this condition is being caused by avocados, cherries or plums...they all have certain toxic levels and the fruits are cyanogenic but if there were problems, all of your goats would have problems. This is most likely an infection...bacterial or viral which may require antibiotics. For now, you are doing the right thing of supportive care...keep her going until your vet can examine her by electrolytes, fluids and dextrose in the fluids...Gatorade works well.

Good Luck, Denise....

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